Baby-carriage.



A. 0. MORSE.

BABY CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION I'ILED' SEPT. a, 1910.

997,466, Patented July 11,1911.

I v f Z m h I l l UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

ALBERT 0. MORSE, OF LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF 'IOCHIPMAN V. WEIGHT, 0]? LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

BABY-CARRIAGE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT O. MORSE, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Leominster, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts,have invented an Improvement in Baby-Carriages, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is aspecification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel babycarriage of simple and eflicient construction, whereby the carriage canbe readily guided to the right or left by the person propelling it,without the necessity of lifting the front wheels from the ground,pavement, or other supporting surface.

I have also provided a novel construction and arrangement of springconnection. between the wheels and the body of the carriage, whereby asmoother and better support for the body is provided, lessening theshock or jar when the wheels pass over inequalities or smallobstructions in the ground or other surface traversed.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described inthe subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in thefollowing claim.

Figure 1 is a side elevation and part vertical section of a babycarriage embodying one practical form of my invention, taken on theirregular section line l-1, Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is an under plan view of thebaby carriage; Fig. 3 is a front view, centrally broken out, of therotatively movable carriers for the front wheels, said carriers alsoconstituting spring cases.

In the present embodiment of my invention the body A of the carriage, ofany suitable shape and construction, has rigidly attached to the bottomfour depending and parallel plungers, a and a, the plungers a beinglocated opposite each other near the back of the body and the plungers aare similarly arranged near its front. The plungers a slide in bearingsformed by the thickened upper ends b of upright, tubular carriers 6,through the lower vends of which carriers is extended an axle B, fixedin position by check nuts 6, Fig. 2, andterminating at its ends insuitable spindles b for the hubs of the rear wheels W. A collar 6 onSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 8, 1910.

Patented July 11, 1911.

Serial No. 581,056.

the axle at the inner end of each spindle is interposed between thecarrier and the hub of the wheel W. lVithin each carrier 7), between theaxle extended through it and a head a on the plunger a projectingthrough the bearing 6* is interposed a coiled supporting spring S, whichspring provides a yielding connection between the rear axle and the bodyA, as will be manifest.

To assemble the parts the plungers are passed through the bearings 6*and the heads a are screwed on or otherwise attached, the springs areinserted, and then the axle B is set in place with the springs S underslight compression.

Rearwardly extended ears o on the carriers b have rigidly bolted to thema bracket-frame comprising a rearwardly and upwardly extended U-shapedbranch C and a lower rearwardly extended and similarly shaped branch C,Figs. 1 and 2, said branches having bearings c, 0 located one above theother in alinement, for the reception of a push-bar P. Said push-bar hasat its upper end a cross-bar or handle P at a convenient height to begrasped by the hands of the person propelling the carriage, the push-barbeing rotatably mounted in the bearings c, c and it is held fromlongitudinal movement by collars p In practice the collars b will bescrewed onto the axle after the latter has been passed through thecarriers, the construction 7 it follows that the rear wheels W willalways travel in upright, parallel planes at rightangles to said axle.

Baby carriages are frequently made wit-h the front wheels mounted totravel in fixed planes, parallel to the planes of travel of the rearwheels, so that in guiding the carriage the front wheels must be liftedclear of the ground, or they must be caused to dragsidewise 111 onedirect-ion or the other, making it hard to guide the carriage andtending to unduly shake or jar the occupant. In my present invention Ihave overcome this objectionable feature by so mounting the front wheelsthat their spindles can be swung about vertical pivotal points, to causethe wheels to be swung bodily to the right or left as desired, suchswinging or guiding movement being controlled by the push-bar. Thecarriers d for the front plungers a are made tubular, as before, withthickened upper ends (V to form bearings for the plungers, but eachcarrier has a rigid arm d extended rearwardly therefrom, andconstituting, with the adjacent wheel spindle (Z a species of bell-cank.

As best shown in Fig. 3 each spindle has a circular shoulder (Z whichabuts against the lower part of the carrier, the spindle being extendedthrough the carrier and held securely thereupon by a nut (Z Each plungera has an attached head a, Fig. 1, which slides up and down in thecarrier, and a coiled spring S is interposed between such head and thepart of the wheelspindle d extended through the lower part of thecarrier. As the plungers a are fixedly attached to the carriage body Ait will be ap parent that the car'iers cl can rot-ate about the saidplungers as vertical axes, while the plungers can move vertically withrelation to the carriers, the springs S yieldingly supporting suchplungers.

The front wheels W are rotatably mounted on the spindles d in usualmanner, and as the arms (Z are connected by a pivotally attachedcrossbar (Z it will be manifest that the arms must be swungsimultaneously in one direction or the other to thereby swing thespindles and the wheels mounted thereon. Said cross-bar (Z is pivoted toeach arm cl, Fig. 2, and one extremity of each of the arms d ispivotally connected by a link (Z with the corresponding end of asteering yoke D fast on the push-bar P, the links converging toward theyoke, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

lVhen it is desired to turn the carriage in one direction or the otherthe push-bar is turned in its bearings c, c to swing the yoke D andthereby exert a pull on one link d and impart a thrust to the other, sothat the two bell-cranks (Z (2 will be turned in the same directionabout the plungers a, to thereby swing the wheels W in upright planes tothe right or left, as the case may be, and causing the carriage totravel in the desired direction. The mounting of the front wheels toswing as described does not in any way interfere with the function ofthe springs S to yieldingly support the front end of the carriage body,as will be apparent.

By using coiled springs I am able to obtain greater resiliency for thecarriage body, longer life for the springs, and a more com pact anddurable construction than can be secured with the ordinary elliptic orother form of leaf spring now commonly employed in vehicles of thischaracter.

I prefer to brace the carriers (Z by means of diagonal tie-rods t, t,Fig. 2, the rear ends of said rods being attached to suitable ears onthe carriers 6, while their front ends are attached to separable collarst loosely surrounding the front carriers (Z between annular flanges dthereon, the collars being held together by suitable bolts t. Atransverse rod 25' rigidly connects said collars and serves as adistance member to maintain the front carriers d always spaced theproper distance apart while the tie-rods 2f serve to position thecarriers (Z with relation to the rear carriers 6, and obviate anytendency of the carriers to twist or pull out of proper axialrelationship to their cooperating plungers. The plungers fit withsufficient freedom in the bearing portions of the carriers to avoidbinding and to rise and fall as may be required during the progress ofthecarriage, each point of support of the body having its own sustainingspring.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

In a babycarriage, a body, rigidly attached, depending plungers thereon,a tubular carrier in which each plunger is slidably mounted, coiledsprings in the carriers to yieldingly support the plungers, a spindlefixedly attached to and laterally extended from each carrier, a wheelrotatably mounted on each spindle, means to prevent rotative movement ofthe rear pair of carriers, and manually controlled means, including apush-bar at the back of the body, to turn the front carriers on theirplungers as axes and thereby swing the front wheels to right or left,combined with a distance-rod between the front pair of carriers, andbraces between the front and rear carriers.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of .two subscribing witnesses.

- ALBERT O. MORSE.

\Vitnesses CHlPMAN V. lVIuen'r, RALPH lV. ROBBINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

